AirAsia's Tony Fernandes announces Asean 'ideas' hackathon

'This year marks the emergence of AirAsia as a digital airline,' says CEO Tony Fernandes

In conjunction with AirAsia's emergence this year as a digital airline, its group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has announced an Asean-wide hackathon.

Fernandes said it is the "first ever open innovation hackathon" to spur fresh ideas. Called 'AIRVOLUTION 2017: Spearheading Innovation in Asean,' 20 teams will compete to create new applications and tools to meet a travel-related, which will be unveiled later, he said.

"Innovation is the lifeblood of AirAsia," added Fernandes. "We live and die by ideas, and this hackathon will provide the perfect environment for the best and brightest to explore new ideas."

"This year marks the emergence of AirAsia as a digital airline, and I believe this event can spur the kind of radical, creative thinking that will ensure AirAsia remains on the leading edge," he added.

"AIRVOLUTION 2017 will be hosted at our newly opened RedQ headquarters in Sepang, Malaysia on 18-19 March 2017," said Fernandes.

The hackathon is open to participants of any nationality currently residing in any of the 26 markets covered by AirAsia's network.

Solutions submitted during the hackathon will be reviewed by our panel of technology and aviation experts, who will select the best one based on originality, scalability and execution.

Registration for the event is open until 19 February 2017 (Visit the airvolution section at AirAsia's website) Successful teams will be informed by 3 March 2017 and AirAsia will sponsor return flights for teams residing outside of Malaysia.